Liberate your data: how we demolished data siloes at Neos Networks

Information workers spend one day in five searching for information, according to McKinsey. Worse, a quarter of business experts admit they give up trying to find answers when data analysis takes too long.

As one of the UK’s leading business telecom providers, our client has a wealth of client and financial data. Like many others, it was a challenge to find and use that data efficiently.

Unlike many others, however, Neos Networks didn’t give up.

They knew the untapped value of their data. All they needed was the right team to help them bridge their treacherous data gaps.

Inefficient spreadsheets and sinking costs

To get clients to pay on time, Neos Networks had to understand complex data relationships. For example, the length of time between taking on and delivering telecom connections.

They had this data to hand, but they couldn’t access it quickly enough or guarantee its quality because they used Excel. This reliance on clunky spreadsheets:

• Slowed down their decision-making processes.
• Increased the likelihood of human errors.
• Ate into their team’s time.

This resulted in financial oversights, which caused lengthy payment delays and profit leakages.

Enough was enough. Doing nothing was financially unsustainable. So, Neos Networks decided to rebuild their entire data process from the ground up. And they wanted a dynamic partner to help them do it.

Demolishing data siloes and taking back control

Neos Networks’ called upon the expertise of Tech City Teams to demolish their damaging data siloes.

Using custom coding and AWS QuickSight, we combined multiple data sources to produce a single, real-time view of their critical business data. This resolved their issues of hidden data, manual number-crunching, and cost leakages.

We split the data by month and division, making it easier to interpret. It regularly refreshes, ensuring Neos Networks always have an up-to-date view.

Here’s an example of what the dashboard looks like using simulated data:

Unlocking £260,000 of immediate savings

Neos Networks’ new dashboards give them much-needed control over their financial data. As a result, they’ve unlocked £260k worth of immediate savings. They’ve also gained further cost benefits by reducing payment delays.

Thanks to this dynamic platform they can also:

• Prevent business fires. The team can spot costly problems or trends sooner and take immediate action.
• Unlock their data. Neos Networks can put finally put Excel to bed. Their new dashboards deliver accurate, timely and business-critical data, all without manual number-crunching.
• Make competitive business decisions. With near-real-time data at their fingertips, managers can make better choices, faster.
• Democratise data analysis. The QuickSight dashboard provides a single, accessible home for financial data analysis tasks. As the Neos Networks team becomes more familiar with the tool, they can experiment with their own self-service analysis.

Money had been slipping through Neos Networks’ fingers. With the help of Tech City Teams, however, they did more than fix the leak.

Our data-engineering-as-a-service model meant we could deliver a platform that not only saves money but generates value. Now, Neos can use their data as the competitive advantage they always knew it could be.

Are you missing out on critical insights because your data is locked away? Get in touch with us here.